Strengths and Weaknesses of the ISD

What is your personal assessment of the ISD model? Describe the strengths and weaknesses of this model? What activities of this model have you used in your experience as an instructor?

Personally, I think the Instructional System Design model is a fairly efficient way to plan and produce effective instructional materials. When I first started EDUC 602, I had never heard of the acronym ADDIE. Now through the various readings of the class, I have a much better understanding of ISD or ID. I think the S or system is important in there because it clarifies that there are a set number of steps to follow in it. I like the organization of that. Once I read that Debora Adler compared it to writing lesson plans, except that the lesson plans were less detailed and elaborate, then I was able to tie it to past experiences that I have had, which helped my understanding of it.
One of the strengths that I perceive of ISD is that it gives the visual (or illustration) to help understand the theory. Several of the examples from the lesson that I clicked on, I would not have been able to understand, had it not been for the illustration. If it was just written in a list form, I would have had a much harder time understanding it.
The ideas that it is learner centered, goal oriented, and focuses on meaningful performance would also be considered as a plus for me. These were all ideas that I try to make sure that I model for my student intern so that she can make sure to remember them in her lessons as well.
The one weakness that I could possibly see is that it is a team approach. This isn't always a weakness, depending on the team that is working on it. However, I have worked on some teams that would never have designed effective instruction. Each member not giving the same level of effort is also another weakness.

I am sure that at one time or another I have used every aspect of the ISD model. Unfortunately, I do not think that I have used it systematically every time I have written a lesson plan. I know at the beginning of the school year I do several needs assessments on my students to find out where they are in various subjects. After that, I think I assume that I know where they are in their needs, when I should probably evaluate them and make sure.
I also know that when I teach various concepts, I often start with a K-W-L chart, which I believe is a content analysis. Once I find out what the students know about a concept, then I can figure out what I still need to teach them, and where else they can go with that information. I try not to do the chart every time we start a new concept though, because I don't want the students to become bored with it.
Task analysis is something that I believe many teachers of the younger grades are good at. It is so very important to break down important or complex tasks into several smaller ones.
The analysis that I have the least "FORMAL" experience with is the contextual analysis. Although often in the planning stage I might think of something that I have to set up in the room or sign up for a different room that has a certain piece of equipment, I do not stop and think separately about it. I think as an elementary teacher that this analysis happens most often in conjunction with another analysis.
The design phase definitely happens all the time with me. There isn't a lesson taught in my room that I don't know what standards or objectives are being taught. Instructional strategies and methods are also second nature, as there are many different ways to teach the objectives or standards. I find the best way is to change it up, so that the kids don't get bored.
Formative evaluations happen often in my classroom, not so much in the development aspect of the lesson, but in the improvement of the lesson. If the students know something or don't understand something, that is the time to modify and adjust, not three weeks later when the unit is complete. When the unit is complete, I often do use a summative evaluation to determine how well the students master the standards.
All of these parts of an ISD lesson is what I am trying to help my intern see. I do think it makes for good effective lessons, and she will get the hang of it soon.

How People Learn

If there was one set way that people learned and I figured that out and marketed it, I would be richer than Bill Gates. However, I am a firm believer that how people learn is a very individual thing, although there are large clumps of people that learn in similar ways. Before I logged on to write this blog, I reread a teaching philosophy that I had written two years ago when I was nominated for a teaching award. In part, I wrote

In order to understand my teaching of history, you have to understand my personal teaching philosophy. I believe that all children are entitled to an education of their mind, body, and soul. In my opinion, once a person goes into the field of education, he takes on the responsibility of supporting cognitive, physical, and affective growth of all children that he encounters. I agree with Bandura when he says “Learning can be done through observation as well as through experience”.
For me, experience is just as, if not more important than modeling. According to John Dewey “Existence is experience”; I completely agree with this idea. We learn many things through experience, even things that we are not aware of. This works well with most of the subjects taught in an elementary school, however, when applied to history, it is hard to have them experience what has already happened in the past. Hard, but not impossible with the technology we have today.

I found it very interesting that I had quoted Dewey in that write up, and didn't even remember it when I was working on the top ten list and researching Dewey and the lab school. As our school is very big on Project-based learning, I think I really do connect best with Constructivism, even if it isn't a "Theory of Learning". When I wrote up my philosophy of teaching, I reflected that I felt most of my students learned best when they were able to experience the concept. I also thought it was interesting that I mentioned technology when talking about the different ways we can give students the experiences (especially for history, until the invent a time machine).